"A family residing in North London is looking for an remarkable and qualified instructor to assist their youngest child on his first steps to growing into an English gentleman."
When reading this post, you might readily miss the phrase "first-steps" as simple an expression.
Yet, it might be the crucial aspect of this unusual job advert, as it aims to hire a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of applications have already been submitted since the anonymous family published their request for the £180k-a-year tutor, who must be "someone very special".
In recent few weeks, the listing has received attention in the media, with many questioning why?
Progressive Approach
The CEO, CEO and founder of Tutors International, which is helping the family in their hunt, explained that despite early scepticism, he found the plan "forward-looking", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he said they understood the atypical aspect of their request, and how immature their son is.
But, they clarified that they "preferred not to postpone any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their firstborn was five, and by that stage "cultural conditioning had by then set in".
What precisely did the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?
It's "all-encompassing", the expert answered. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He said the elder child had adopted "extremely delicate, unspoken signals" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family explained to the consultant they wished to avoid history to repeat itself with their new baby.
The intention: To bring in a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to shape the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"Much of the learning at the start here is rather acquired indirectly," stated the CEO.
It's through this natural absorption that the family are aiming the child will adopt the English characteristics they aim to cultivate.
He noted the tutor must be someone who attended "the appropriate educational institutions – the same kinds of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, effortlessly," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told him the chosen tutor should ideally also have familiarity of or passion in equestrian activities, skiing, artistic pursuits and music so as to shape the child in a diverse set of passions.
More than that though, he stated the family hoped the tutor to sign up the child on a range of classes so the child would be "pony-riding and picking up an tool by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son become a "British gentleman" will result in accomplishment and open doors.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a status symbol," he comments.
However, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", would the child pick up alleged cultural influence from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Absolutely", said he. "They realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'let's give it a go and we'll proceed as soon as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the tutoring industry who share these reservations.
An education leader, chief executive of Blue Education, who supplies personal educators, commented that "the process of becoming bicultural, or actually, becoming oneself, is something that must be experienced personally, not manufactured."
Peter wrote that he had emigrated from the Far East to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been educated understanding and living dual heritages. He progressed to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can serve as a representation of UK identity, an individual who can in some way transfer the qualities of a British gentleman to a infant child, appears naive and impractical," he commented.
"Based on my background, having a quintessentially UK tutor from infancy will will not instantly produce the outcome they desire.
"I wasn't provided with such a tutor, and nevertheless I have been fortunate enough to experience many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The reality is, personal identity can not be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Certainly, English culture is something the expert hopes can be educated – and commercialized.
"In my view the fact that the world holds us in this regard is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
